A SERIES OF GIFTS — No. 03: 'ON' = CHANGING BOTH THE NATURE & DESIGN OF RELATIONSHIPS

Welcome to "A SERIES OF GIFTS" for the New Year!

In GIFT #2, we suggested the value of helicoptering up (beyond working For or In an organization to working On an organization), this shift in mindset being equivalent to asking “Are we on THE RIGHT ISLAND?” rather than simply assuming we are and then proceeding to chop down every blasted coconut tree in sight to reach some arbitrary objective.

GIFT #3 continues this line of thought, reminding us that when we work On a relationship, we are poised all the more to improve both its Nature and Design, its essence and outcomes.

Whereas ‘dwellers’ inhabit whatever world in which they find themselves, ‘architects’ (of companies, of cultures, of communities, of creativity, of contribution, of connection, of RELATIONSHIPS) can—through changing the very nature and design of such things—alter the air we breathe or the water in which we swim.

This is terraforming, and the headspace in which those who question assumptions and re-shape realities thrive.

Transitions of this magnitude are so significant that they often lead to demarcations en masse between “What Was” and “What Is Now,” like B.C. and A.D., before 1776 and after 1776, before Stowe and after Stowe (1852), before Edison and after Edison (1879), before Curie and after Curie (1898), before Ford and after Ford (1913), before Einstein and after Einstein (1915), before Oppenheimer and after Oppenheimer (1945), or pre-pandemic/post-pandemic (and its long tail of bankruptcies, employee churn, market volatility, Corporate cataclysms, mental illness, domestic violence, and all the rest).

But PERSONAL change needn’t be so grand to be remarkable to oneself!

After all, we are each the architect of our own life, and CHOICES ARE OUR CHISEL:

(1)  “What will I CHOOSE to say Yes to today?”

(2)  “What will I CHOOSE to decline?”

(3)  “What attitude and behavior will I CHOOSE to carry into this next meeting?”

(4)  “Shall I CHOOSE open or closed-mindedness in this next hour?”

Working On ourselves is hard work, but it sure beats enslavement to presumption or habit, and also to unliving one’s full potential.

CHOOSE THE RED PILL, won't you?

We hope you will, and that doing so proves to be both encouraging and liberating.